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Doombringer – The Grand Sabbath

NWN! Productions, 2014

8.5/10 – Antti Mikonmäki

Polish Doombringer (founded by members from Bestial Raids and Cultes Des Ghoules) plays that ancient doomish death metal made known most notably by bands like Necros Christos and Grave Miasma, but fortunately most of the bands in this genre still have those small differences which make them sound quite original, and Doombringer is no exception.

The first long song gives a good vision of the album as a whole, but leaves you wanting for more. Although no more real surprises emerge, every song is a pleasure to hear.

The riffs are quite typical to the genre, with sometimes thrashy vibes, and nice leads here and there. Fans of slow death metal will love the clanky massive bass with cool lines, and the drummer plays very good as well. The songs shift between slow or mid-tempo old school death metal rolling, with faster parts and randomly a bit more technical groovy jams keeping things interesting. The overall sound of the album is very warm and reverberating.

If you would listen to this stuff without the vocals, it would sound like watching some tortured spirits hover above an ancient necropolis where rituals are being performed in candlelight under the ominous moon. However, the vocals which come from a more black metal oriented frame of mind (reminding of bands like Katharsis or Venenum to name a few), instead of being typical death metal growls, fit the music great. At times clear atmospheric shouting and ritual chanting bring the ceremony even more to life, and there is even a De Mysteriis Dom Attila -vibe going on at certain parts.

It’s nice to notice the band (when it comes to song-structures) have skills to pull off a few awesome, dreamy, growing and peaking parts, among the more traditional death metal majesty. If you look at the album-cover while listening to the music, you start to notice similar (to the cover artwork) kind of 70’ies-vibe going on among the songs. Whether or not this is intentional or accidental makes no difference, as it works like a candle on an altar.

If bands like Necros Christos, Grave Miasma, Drowned, Cruciamentum, Embrace Of Thorns, Vastum and similar do not completely satisfy your appetite for corpse-smelling visions of ritual chambers, this band offers you the same stuff with a personal touch. In fact, this band belongs among the great and old ones for sure!